A previous blog post shared information about the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s “It’s Elemental” video competition for high school students to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry. A recent report says that approximately 700 individuals and groups responded to their call for videos. Winners were notified this month. The grand-prize individual winner was Daniyal N. Khan […]

My favorite part of any Chemical & Engineering News is the one-page column “Newscripts” that waits at the end of the issue, like a dessert after supper. It collects two or three short pieces related to science and tends to have an irreverent flavor. Take the January 10, 2011, column for example, with the subtitle […]

Happy International Year of Chemistry! 1-1-11 marks the start of a year-long focus on the “achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humankind”, with the theme “Chemistry—our life, our future”.
The American Chemical Society has launched an online tool to help us learn more about these achievements and contributions. “365: Chemistry for Life” […]

Sounds like Washington, D.C., was the place to be just a couple weeks ago. The USA Science & Engineering Festival was held on the National Mall, among other locations over the weekend of October 23 and 24, 2010. From their Website, the mission of the festival is “to re-invigorate the interest of our nation’s youth […]

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) offers Web-based seminars throughout the year that highlight different areas of science. NSTA describes the seminars as “free, 90-minute, live professional development experiences that use online learning technologies to allow participants to interact with nationally acclaimed experts, NSTA Press authors, and scientists, engineers, and educaiton specialists from NSTA partner […]

Last week the President spoke at a White House Summit on Community Colleges (information, fact sheets, and a video of the closing session are available at http://bit.ly/arp7X8). Chaired by Dr. Jill Biden, a community college educator for 17 years and the Vice President’s wife, the summit was designed to “highlight the critical role that community […]

At the recent American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting in Boston, I spent an evening on the exhibit show floor. Walking the floor at an ACS meeting always leaves me a little bit wanting, as my current stage in life and employment does not require the purchase of cutting-edge instrumentation, specialty glassware, or textbooks. However, […]

Letters written to Francis Crick and from Crick to others have resurfaced. The letters highlight rivalries between Watson and Crick at Cambridge University and Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at King’s C0llege, London, with the specter of Linus Pauling in the background. The British researchers wanted desperately to find the DNA structure before Pauling–but not […]

A recent article in the New York Times (http://nyti.ms/93t30y) gives a recipe for making edible nanostructures. It requires sugar (gamma-cyclodextrin), a salt (potassium benzoate), 190 proof ethyl alcohol, and water. The recipe involves mixing the sugar, salt, and water in a small glass or plastic cup, placing the cup into a larger glass, cup, or […]

At the recent ACS National Meeting in Boston I attended a symposium on global climate change. The first speaker challenged educators to provide better background for students to understand the science of the atmosphere and climate. In a democracy, that seems absolutely essential, but how many of us are really including these things in what […]